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Introduction Arc
The First Shokugeki Arc is the first Story Arc of the Shokugeki no Soma series. It focuses on the beginning of Sōma Yukihira's journey at Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. Cooking Duels * Don RS Vs. Mito Shokugeki Summary Prologue The arc begins where Sōma battles against Jōichirō in a cooking duel with Mayumi Kurase as the judge. Inevitably, as Mayumi selects Jōichirō's dish over Sōma's, Sōma loses to his father for the 489th time. In evening, Yaeko and her assistants enter Restaurant Yukihira and threatens the Yukihiras to close down the restaurant for the development in the city. As his retort to Yaeko's threats, Sōma, who speaks to her on the restaurant's behalf, burns her business card on the grill and declaring that they would only close their restaurant if they are unable to fulfill a customer's request. One afternoon after school, Sōma and return to his restaurant and find the the restaurant's kitchen was sabotaged and vandalized by Yaeko's assistant. Despite the odds, Sōma manages to cook his dish and when the dish finally subjugated Yaeko and her assistants through an unexpected taste, the restaurant's reputation is saved. After successfully defending Restaurant Yukihira, Sōma begins to clean the awning while seeing his father's return from his business. To Sōma's surprise however, Jōichirō tells Sōma that he decides to (momentarily) close down Restaurant Yukihira for three years, prompting the boy to asks his father about his sudden decision. Jōichirō put his hand onto Sōma's shoulder and tell him that it is time for his son to depart from Restaurant Yukihira and go out in the world to measure his cooking ability. A few weeks later, under Jōichirō's recommendation, Sōma reaches into the Tōtsuki Culinary Academy to take an entrance examination for his enrollment. On his way to the examination hall, Sōma notices a trail of students screaming in horror because they had failed the entrance exam as well as parents promising to give large sums of money in exchange to have their child accepted. Sōma then receives a phone call from his father who was currently working in a lavish hotel at New York. During their conversation, he tells Sōma that Tōtsuki is a prestigious culinary school and if he could not graduate from there, he had no hope of surpassing his father. With Sōma competitive spirit ignited by his father's words words, Jōichirō's phone call is cut before he could tell his son the secret in becoming a good chef, which is to meet a woman that will make you want to give all the food you make to her. Sōma's Entrance Exam In the school, Erina tastes a dish of one of the students but quickly becomes disappointed after she find it tastes awful, which she claims to stain her God Tongue before leaving to her next appointment. Meanwhile, in the Tōtsuki grounds, Sōma befriends with Yoshiaki Nikaidō, who also participates the entrance exam. However, during their conversation where Sōma reveals his humble background, Yoshiaki kicks Sōma from the bench and angrily tells Sōma by stating the Tōtsuki only accepts prestigious and regal students. Later, as all of students gather in a kitchen to undergo the entrance exam, it is revealed that Erina will be the examiner of this exam. The students bemoan their luck as she is renowned for her strict passing mark and huge influence. As she explains her own rules for gaining admission, all the students (except Sōma) flee as she finishes, fearing that their names will forever be stained by her words in the cooking industry. Being the only student left, Sōma asks on whether or not he could take the test, patting Erina on the shoulder as his relief. Despite Erina's and Hisako's annoyance over his "insolence", who didn't know Erina's regal status, Sōma proceeds to cook his dish for the test, a Furikake Gohan. Erina attempts to discontinue the exam but Sōma stops her by telling Erina that his Furikake Gohan is special for it capability to transform into something special to her taste.To her disappointment however, Erina sees Sōma's dish is merely a plain bowl of egg white pieces. Erina attempts to end the exam while telling Sōma that she only approves dishes that concentrated on extravagance and innovation. but Sōma remains unfazed and stops her by claiming the dish is far from finished. He firstly pours a mysterious fluid onto his dish which begins to melt the egg pieces, then pours the contents of the bowl into another bowl of rice. The substance then melts with the heat of the rice and the Transforming Furikake Gohan is completed. Stunned by the food's fragrant aroma, Erina reluctantly calls Sōma to serve the dish for her. When she takes a bite of the dish, she finds the food delicious while demanding Sōma to explain the substance he put onto the Furikake Gohan. Sōma reveals that the substance was a jellied meat broth, which contains some meat with gelatinous parts frozen altogether. Erina then claims that this dish is completely foreign to her just as Sōma continues to tease her. Just as she takes a third bite, Erina feels her whole body reacting greatly as she falls onto the ground, seemly teasing Sōma's victory. Unfortunately for Sōma, Erina (intentionally) claims the food is "bad", meaning that Sōma is disqualified the entry exam. Moments later, Sōma returns to Yoshiaki somewhere outside the academy and tells him about his disqualification, mainly because Erina doesn't see eye to eye with him. In evening, Erina contacts the Tōtsuki authorities by stating that no one passed her test, including Sōma whom she disqualified on purpose. The 92nd Generation Orientation Ceremony One month later, the 92nd Generation Orientation Ceremony is held in the Tōtsuki Culinary Academy. Senzaemon Nakiri, the director of Tōtsuki Culinary Academy, begins his speech by congratulates the students for making the High School section but warns them that they need the "guts" to be a chef. Senzaemon then points at them, telling them that 99% of them are sacrificial in order to polish the remaining 1% gems. He continues his speech telling them the school will mercilessly diminish the number of chefs through the years so that they can be counted on one hand. He points at the students again telling them they will become one of those students and concludes with the words that they need to devote to their studies. Meanwhile, Erina, who is is rewarded as an outstanding student for internal entrance exam from the beginning of the ceremony, pities the students in the same generation as she aims to rule Tōtsuki Academy and Japan's cooking world. The ceremony proceeds as the announcer introduces one student who passed the previous entrance exam, who turns out to be Sōma much to Erina's surprise. In his speech, Sōma introduces himself to the crowd, not really knowing what to say. He tells everyone that while he didn't expect to be admitted into the academy, he doesn't plans to lose to anyone who never stood in front of clients and wants to take the top. After Sōma gives his fellow students his best regards for the upcoming years while walking away from the stage, the crowd reacts in anger to his words. In the backstage, Sōma meets Erina who still surprise to his sudden appearance. While showing her a notification letter of his qualification, Sōma asks Erina why she didn't say that his food was good back in the exam, only to be rebuffed by Erina who says she hasn't accepted Sōma nor his cooking. Claiming his enrollment is a "mistake", Erina warns Sōma that being the top is impossible for him because unlike him, students in this academy received gifted education in Middle School. As his respond, Sōma tells Erina that he was only three years old the first time he held a knife and thus has twelve years of experience. Sōma then vows to exhaust his cooking to the limits and have Erina say that Sōma's food is good. From afar, Senzaemon watches Sōma talking to his granddaughter, while he recalls the events that happened one month prior the event: It turned out that Senzaemon once tasted Sōma's Furikake Gohan and he liked it, thus overruling Erina's opinion and approving Sōma's enrollment into Tōtsuki Academy. Life in Totsuki Culinary Academy Megumi, who still alone in the ceremony location, fears that she'll be the first to be eliminated from the High School level and decides to avoid Sōma, to not stand out badly. Ironically, to her fear, Megumi is paired up with Sōma for the first assignment of the year. Regardless, Megumi and Sōma befriends with each other in the class as she tells Sōma that she must pass the assignment to stay in the academy. At one moment, one lecturer arrives into a cooking class whom Megumi identifies as Roland Chapelle, a teacher with strict evaluations even for Tōtsuki Academy. He immediately tells the students of their responsibilities as a chef and threatens to give their dishes an E, the lowest possible score, if the dish fails to stand out. Roland then gives the students their assignment, which is to cook Boeuf Bourguignon, a standard French dish. As the students begin to cook the dish, Megumi temporarily leaves her post to prepare another ingredient. At this time, two students sabotage the beef in order to make Sōma expelled as soon as possible. Sōma soon realizes something is wrong with the beef however, with the lid having been left open. He realizes a bit of salt was added to the beef, rendering it useless in its current form. With only 30 minutes left on the clock, Megumi fears they won't have enough time to make the dish all over again. Even with this disadvantages, Sōma tries to calm down Megumi, vowing to get the dish done before time runs out and remembering her of Roland's words. When Roland begins to judge the dishes, the students who sabotaged the pair food assumes assume both Megumi and Sōma are unable to get the dish done in time anymore. Just when they are thinking on how to serve their own food however, Sōma and Megumi step up and present their dish to Roland and prepare for his evaluation. When he put the fork onto the Boeuf Bourguignon, Roland realizes the dish is different due to its rare tenderness, which shouldn't have been possible without boiling the dish, shocking the students who sabotaged the dish. Roland tells Sōma that he knew the pair had an accident, and he asks Sōma how he got the dish completed despite their disadvantages. Sōma reveals he used honey as a secret ingredient to the dish, rubbing it on the meat before boiling and adding it as a seasoning as well. Roland acknowledges this fact, but Megumi asks Sōma how he knew about the ingredient's properties. Sōma reveals he once tested it at Restaurant Yukihira by reading a cooking book and made a lot of experiment of the ingredients. Megumi and Roland then proceed to eat the dish, both smiling at the taste of the dish. The students are shocked by this fact, as Roland was known as The Chef that Doesn't Smile at the academy. Roland passes Sōma and Megumi, calling it a shame that he can't give them anything higher than an A. (To be added....) The next morning, the Polar Star residents entered the dinning room where Sōma had been waiting all morning to challenge Satoshi for his Elite Ten seat. Satoshi, however, declined the challenge and informed Sōma about the formal cooking duels at Tōtsuki: the Shokugeki. Satoshi informed him that because he was not willing to accept the duel and the fact that a loss against him would cost Sōma more than his place in Tōtsuki, the duel was not feasible. Sōma accepted that his goal to enter the Elite Ten would have to wait. During this time, Erina challenged the Chan RS president, Kiyoshi Gōdabayashi to a Shokugeki to move forward with her project. Kiyoshi accepts her challenge for the right to keep the Chan RS alive however he added another condition: Erina must relinquish her 10th Seat if she lost the duel. Erina accepted his terms and the Shokugeki began. In the end, Erina effortlessly won and called a demolition crew to tear down the Chan RS club. Shortly after, Erina is greeted by Hisako who informs her about Sōma's high grade in Roland's class, causing her demeanor to instantly snap. Thinking that Sōma is the greatest threat to her "sanctuary", Erina vowed to remove Sōma from Tōtsuki as soon as possible, by any means necessary. First Shokugeki After departing from the Polar Star Dormitory, Sōma decided to look for a club with Megumi who suggested that he look for one. Eventually he found the Don RS, a club devoted to making Donburi dishes. However the president of the club, Kanichi Konishi told them that the club was targeted by Erina for her expansion project and was going to be disbanded soon. As KanIchi finished explaining his plight, a contractor crew burst into the clubroom with one of Erina's enforcers, Ikumi Mito, who had arrived to move Erina's project forward. She intimidate Kanichi, saying that no matter what kind of dish he makes, he cannot beat her A5 quality beef. Sōma saw this event unfold and volunteered to take the Shokugeki in the name of the Don RS, much to everyone's surprise. For stipulations for both parties, Sōma would leave Tōtsuki if he lost. However, he added that the Don RS cannot be targeted by Erina's project and Ikumi must join the Don RS if he won and she accepted the terms. With a Donburi dish as the theme and meat as the basis, Ikumi left the room to prepare. With three days to prepare for the ''Shokugeki'', ''Sōma began to make numerous Don dishes, Megumi assisted him by researching Donburi books from the club's notebook library. Though they were good, Kanichi felt that they were not enough to beat Ikumi who was most likely to bring an A5 grade beef as her meat basis. Given the Don RS measly remaining budget and the limited funds Jōichirō had given to him, Sōma was given a huge handicap as his cooking materials were limited by his financial shortcomings. Just as Sōma had exhausted all of his ideas and nearly all of his funds, Megumi gave him some encouragement to persevere but Sōma noticed that Megumi had a recipe book with Japanese steak don recipes. Sōma quickly prepared a Chaliapin Steak which KanIchi deemed worthy enough to challenge an A5 meat prepared by Ikumi. However Sōma spent the rest of the night modifying his recipe to perfection. During the preparation period, Ikumi contacted her family to deliver the best A5 grade beef for her ''Shokugeki. With her weapon now ready, Ikumi assured Erina that she will win the Shokugeki, much to Erina's pleasure. On the day of the Shokugeki, ''Ikumi was welcomed into the arena by unanimous cheers while Sōma garnered unanimous boos. As the cooking commenced, Erina personally came to the Shokugeki Arena to watch what was to be Sōma's first ''Shokugeki and ensure that the battle would be Sōma's last act in Tōtsuki. Ikumi gathered praise from the audience as she began to work with her A5 meat while Sōma's cheap on-sale market meat was met with even more jeers from the audience. Throughout the cooking time, Ikumi constantly threw insults at Sōma, but he ignored them, stating that loud chefs can't be trusted and the aroma of Sōma's dish hit Ikumi, causing her to shudder. Finally, the preparation time ended and both of them prepared to present their dishes to the judges. Ikumi presented her dish first, an A5 Japanese Beef Roti Don. The judges, Shigenoshin Kōda, Yoshiki Bitō and Katsunori Okamoto were impressed by the presentation of her dish. They complemented her artistry and the fantastic preparation of the meat and the accompanying garlic rice. Sōma presented next with his Chaliapin Steak Don. Though the judges initially did not want to eat it in the aftermath of Ikumi's dish, after taking a bite, the judges could not stop eating the dish, even saying that the dish overall was better than Ikumi's. Sōma critiqued Ikumi's dish saying that her dish was not a true don, along of the philosophy of making the don. Sōma then handed her a sample of his dish when she refused to believe that his cheap meat could be better than her A5 beef. As Ikumi ate his dish, she realized the difference in the impact of their dishes as a whole rather than just the meat. Sōma was declared the unanimous victor of the match. In the aftermath, Ikumi gazed at the Erina in her booth, she coldly walked away and told Hisako to vacate Ikumi's personal kitchen, breaking all ties from her. Frustrated from losing everything, Ikumi lashed out at Sōma however Sōma asked to try her don and called her nickname "Nikumi" cute, she fled in embarrassment. When Kanichi declared that Sōma would become the next president of the club, Megumi was left speechless when Sōma turned down his offer since he had only come to the club to develop a new don dish. The day after the Shokugeki, Ikumi stood in front of the newly refurbished Don RS clubroom, recalling Sōma's comment about her nickname. She took time to fix her hair before entering the clubroom. To her surprise, Sōma did not join the club. Kanichi then declared her the next head of the Don RS only for her to lash out at him again when he called her Nikumi. Story Impact *Most of the major characters are introduced in the story, such as Sōma, Erina, Jōichiro, Megumi and the Polar Star Students. *Sōma enrolls into the Tōtsuki and becomes its student. *Roland smiles for the first time after eating Sōma's and Megumi's Boeuf Bourguignon. *Sōma befriends with the Polar Star Students, Kanichi and Ikumi. *Sōma defeats Ikumi in his first Shokugeki. **Don RS is preserved from Erina's demolition while Ikumi joins Don RS. Manga and Anime Differences * Yūya Tomita made an early appearance in Episode 1 of the anime adaption as he did not make his debut in the manga until Chapter 35. * Contrasts to the manga counterparts, where each of them debuts in different chapters, most of the 92nd Generation students were briefly shown during the 92nd Orientation Day and all of them listen Sōma's ambitious speech. * In an anime exclusive scene, the Aldini Twins earn an A in another cooking class test. Trivia (To be added) Category:Story Arc Category:First Shokugeki Arc